Scholar Urges Formation of Mainland-HK-Taiwan Common MarketA scholar has urged to form a Chinese-based common market for the benefits of the Chinese Mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan.Cheng Chu-yuan, professor of economics at Ball State University in Indiana of the United States, made the point when speaking in Manhattan, New York, Sunday on the topic of China's mainland and Taiwan's economic situation and their future prospects, according to reports reaching here from Taipei on Monday. Cheng, who has visited the mainland several times recently, was quoted as saying that after adjusting the economy downward for the seventh consecutive year, the mainland has seen its economy start to rebound since the latter part of 1999. He noted the mainland's two-way trade totaled US$474.3 billion last year, up 31.5 percent from the previous year, triggering a rebound in the overall economy. Affected by the Asian financial storm, growth in the mainland's gross domestic product (GDP) dropped sharply to 7.1 percent in 1999 before rebounding to 8 percent last year. It is estimated that economic growth this year will be maintained at between 7.5 percent and 8 percent, Cheng said. On the relations between the two sides across the Straits, the professor noted that cross-strait trade amounted to US$32 billion last year and that Taiwan is now the mainland's second largest import market while the mainland is Taiwan's third largest export market. He said that the fact that large numbers of Taiwan businesspeople have begun investing in the mainland has become a new important element in cross-strait cooperation, with orders being received in Taiwan and products being manufacturing on the mainland. As for Hong Kong, Taiwan's trade with the special administrative region also increased sharply, with exports to Hong Kong accounting for around 21 percent of the island's total exports last year and a trade surplus of 29.1 billion U.S. dollars in Taiwan's favor. If Taiwan, Hong Kong and the mainland can join forces to create a common market based on Chinese, then the economic region will become among the world's largest economic blocs, on par with those of North America and the European Union, Professor Cheng concluded. |
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